The shuttle from the Tarquin set down in a cloud of fine red grit, and Dr. Eva Kelsey peered through the shield for signs of life. Nothing moved except a lone dust devil.
“See anything, Leon?”
“Looks like the Texas Badlands,” the pilot said. He hunched over the console. “No welcoming committee. But I got the right coordinates and time. How long do we wait?”
A hideous roar split the low hum of the shuttlecraft, and Eva started. An immense splay-footed beast, a brown lizardy nightmare masquerading as a horse, shuffled from a sand canyon. The animal was saddled and bridled. And in the saddle sat a huge man.
He urged the creature close to the shield. The lizard rolled its eyes and stamped its feet, but it obeyed.
Confident, relaxed, the rider leaned forward and his penetrating stare burned Eva, as if he’d crisped her neosuit to explore the possibilities beneath. She fought an urge to cover her breasts with both hands, to protect herself from the attack of his eyes.
“Conor.” Eva caught her breath, her mouth tightened. Low in her belly a hot memory woke.
He held his seat on the nightmare nonchalantly, reins loose in his lap. Always in control, Conor, even when he looked sleepy-eyed and careless. That’s when he was most dangerous. His steel-grey eyes never shifted from Eva’s face, and unsettled, she smoothed her hair in its confining Baradian twist, and tucked in a stray curl.
Damn! She knew better than to signal that he’d unnerved her, but it was too late. A smile flickered across Conor’s lips, a smile that implied she’d come off-world to re-ignite an old fire.
He was more man than most women could handle. Except Eva. Conor’s aura of intense maleness presented no danger to her. She’d had the experience, like some exotic disease, and she was immune. Her self-control had intensified in the last two years, and he wielded no power over her.
“Is that the Conor? The legend in the flesh?” Leon adjusted a stabilizer and chuckled. “Hey, Doc. I’m impressed.”
“Then you’re a chump for personality cults.” Eva patted his back and rose abruptly. As Conor backed his creature into the shadows of a dune, Eva touched the pilot’s shoulder. “Thanks for the ride, Leon. You can take off after I unload. I’ve only got the two cases.”
Minutes later, ankle-deep in the planet’s sand, she was assaulted by the thirsty air, and heat shimmered over the arid earth. Every breath scorched her lungs, and tiny beads of sweat collected on her upper lip and evaporated in an instant.
Leon shot her one last wave and the shuttle slipped away, shrinking in an instant to a silver dot of light and then vanishing, separating her from the Tarquin, leaving her on Feldon-9 for months. For the first time, she couldn’t suppress fears that accepting the assignment had been a bad idea, a risk. But assignment refusals alerted the Psych Board, and files were pulled, notes were made.

INSATIABLE BY CHEVON GAEL EXCERPT

Marcus Remmington finished reading the directions on his frozen microwave dinner in time to be startled by several successive rings of the doorbell. He tossed the package into the kitchen sink and shouted, “Hold your horses, I’m coming.”
Before he had a chance to wonder who was playing his doorbell like a piano, his gaze fell on the entry his assistant had made in his diary. Daagmar’s spidery scrawl was spread across the page as a cue to block out the entire evening. He barely noticed the words, “Ashly-Tate”; then beneath it, “Bedroom Eyes.”
“Shit,” he muttered. The appointment had gone right out of his head after the ugly scene this morning with Yolande Johannsen, his latest runway diva. She’d shown up while he was in the shower, ready to scratch out his eyes. Of course, she’d quit on the spot. Marcus had expected as much so he wasn’t terribly disappointed. He also wasn’t disappointed at the shots he took yesterday, so Yolande’s bailing out wouldn’t cost him a job, but she’d never work with him again. Losing her as a bedmate didn’t bother him. Losing a model to sit for the gallery opening did. Professional models of his acquaintance weren’t interested in working for nothing. Besides, if Marcus was completely honest with himself, he was tired of the single name supermodels with their super-egos and over-inflated breasts or the underfed, wasted-waifs with their heroin-haunted eyes and six figure contracts. They wanted the runways at the end of the rainbow; not the hungry, artistic, pay-me-nothing-but-experience jobs that meant working in rain, snow or triple digit humidity. Just working period.
He no longer had the patience to scour amateur portfolios of thirteen-year-old virgins who offered to let him change their status in exchange for their first job. Nor did he have the cash flow to indulge in big money contracts for temperamental spoiled brats like Yolande. If it wasn’t for the extra money coming from his Bedroom Eyes work, he couldn’t afford his share in the gallery at all. So if his evening appointment was late and he missed out on supper, he didn’t mind. He was grateful for every job.
He flipped on the outside porch light and prepared his professional side to flatter some bored housewife. He opened the front door and braced himself. The sight of the petite, dark-haired woman in the red cocktail dress stunned him into silence.
Her slightly glazed, green-gold eyes stared back at him in surprise. The halo of the yellow porch light reflecting in her glasses made her seem like some smoldering angel from wet-dream Heaven. She swayed slightly and shivered. Instantly, Marcus stood aside to allow her to enter. When she hesitated, Marcus was afraid she might be someone who just had the wrong address. Luck was with him, however, when she finally spoke.
“Is this Bedroom Eyes?”

ALIAS SMITH AND JONES BY B. J. MCCALL EXCERPT

Smith Wilding scanned the crowded airport bar. Thanks to a sudden snowstorm, his morning flight to New Orleans had been delayed. Odds were he’d be stuck for the rest of the afternoon, perhaps the night. His gaze caught and held on a shapely pair of nylon-clad legs. Ever-so-slowly he assessed the woman sitting alone at one of several tables lining the floor-to-ceiling windows. The runways were barely discernable, and the woman’s attention remained on the swirling snow. Her conservative gray suit and simple hairstyle told him she, like the hordes of business-class travelers mingling around the gates and concourse, had been caught off-guard by the fierce storm.
Thankfully all the barstools and tables were occupied. Every single seat, except one. Focusing his gaze on the woman’s long legs, he headed for the empty chair which just happened to be the molded plastic seat at her table.
“Excuse me,” he began. “I could use a drink. Do you mind?”
She gave him a brief nod, then turned her attention back to the storm. Although her face wasn’t knock-down gorgeous, something about her intrigued him. Perhaps her eyes. Large, slightly tilted, dark brown and seductive. Bedroom eyes.
“It looks like we have a bit of a wait,” she said, without looking at him.
He’d barely taken his seat when a barmaid hustled over. He noted the empty glasses on the table, ordered a martini for himself and another white wine.
“How’d you do that?” she asked, swiveling around in her chair. Her knee bumped into his. “I had to wait so long, I ordered two. That waitress hasn’t been within ten feet in the last hour.”
“Should I call her back?”
After a long assessing stare, she grinned. “No, I have a feeling she’ll be around. Come here often?”
“Only when there’s a blizzard.”
She pushed aside the two wineglasses. “Lucky me.”
“I’m Smith —”
The grin disappeared. “Sure you are. I guess that makes me Jones.” Abruptly she turned her attention back to the falling snow.
Surprised by her rudeness, Smith considered returning to the first-class lounge and the complaining gaggle of elderly couples who’d driven him to the public bar. “Would you rather I left?”
Those big brown eyes locked with his just as the waitress delivered their drinks. While the girl took her time removing the empty glasses and crumpled cocktail napkins, Smith enjoyed the amused expression on his new companion’s face. The fine lines about her eyes told him she had recently slipped into her thirties. She wore little make-up, giving her a fresh, no-nonsense look he liked. Her mouth bordered on seductive, but her stubborn chin guaranteed she wasn’t easily impressed or conquered.
Swinging her long legs around, her skirt slid several delightful inches up her thighs before she stood. “You stay put… Smith. I need to brave the line at the ladies room.”
Sexy and bossy.

STRICTLY BUSINESS BY SHANNON HOLLIS EXCERPT

Elizabeth laid both hands on his chest and spoke quietly. “Please don’t misunderstand me. We’ve had an incredible two days, and I’ll treasure them always. But I can’t do this.” He took a breath to speak, and she covered his mouth with a finger. “Let me finish. I care about you and I think you care about me. But everything else aside, our goals in life are too different. You live for Stratton Hill. I can’t. I just don’t see a future for us. Not the kind I’m looking for, anyway.” Elizabeth’s voice failed on the last words, and the tears choked off anything more she wanted to say.
Garrett tried to take her in his arms. “Elizabeth. Darling. I never thought I’d hear you say you care. I can’t believe it. It’s—”
“Garrett, didn’t you hear any of what I just said?”
“Of course I did, but I’m focusing on the important part. We care about each other. That’s what matters most.”
For an engineer and a strategist, he could be surprisingly unrealistic. “But I’m looking for a future, Garrett. A meaningful future. And I don’t think you can offer me that.”
“What do you call a meaningful future?” His voice was too quiet.
She needed to explain this clearly, without sounding like a needy female. Her mother’s behavior with her father flashed into her memory, and stiffened her resolve. “It’s not as if I want white picket fences; I’m just not that kind of person. But I do want a home I can share with a man I love and respect. I want a partnership where the first priority is our life together. And some day I want children, which will make it even more important that our priorities are in the right order. Which would mean business in second place.”
“Do you expect me to propose?” He was trying hard to understand. Elizabeth’s heart squeezed with love and her own pain at having to deny them both what they desperately wanted.
“No, of course not. It’s too soon to expect anything from each other.”
He dropped her hands as if they burned him, and walked over to the window. “That’s the most unkind thing anyone has ever said to me.” His shoulders were rigid with hurt.
“Oh, God.” For an expert in human resources, she was really making a mess of this. Where were all her communication skills when she needed them? “What I’m trying to say is that Stratton Hill isn’t my entire life now, and won’t be in the future.” She crossed the room, and touched his shoulder blade with a gentle hand. “Garrett, my dad gave thirty years to IBM. I grew up without him. For God’s sake, my mother took me to the father-daughter dance because he was tied up on a project and couldn’t give me the time. I’ve learned the hard way how important it is to put relationships first.”
He turned to her slowly. “And you think I wouldn’t?”
“I know you wouldn’t,” she said, her voice husky with tears.

Alias Smith & Jones by B.J. McCallMeredith Collins finds herself stranded overnight at the airport. A handsome stranger by the name of Smith offers her sanctuary for the evening and she finds those mesmerizing, green-flecked eyes hard to resist. Are they to be just two ships passing in the night?

To My Readers: A chance meeting. A handsome executive. Anything is possible.

Strictly Business by Shannon HollisElizabeth Forrester is Strictly Business. It's tough enough for a woman to make it to the top in the corporate world. Garret Hill, the most beautiful man in Silicon Valley, has to come along and stir up Elizabeth's wildest fantasies. Dare she give in to both their desires?

To My Readers: In this high-speed, high-tech world, sometimes you just have to stop and let love catch up to you… Insatiable by Chevon GaelTells the tail of one man's obsession. Marcus Remington photographs beautiful models for a living, but it's Ashley Fraser, a young corporate exec having some glamour shots done, who has stolen his heart. It's up to Marcus to help her discover her inner sexual self.

To My Readers: I have always been fascinated by the games people play when they fall in love. They go to great lengths to avoid, deny, ignore and even refuse what they feel. Alas, love latches onto you like a bad virus — with a lot of the same symptoms — and never lets go. Love doesn't play fair and lust throws all the rules out the window — as my hero and heroine find out. Enjoy the game!Beneath Two Moons by Sandy FraserReady for a very wild romp? Step into the future and find Conor, rough and masculine like frontiersmen of old, on the prowl for a new conquest. In his sights, Dr. Eva Kelsey. She got away once before, but this time Conor makes sure she begs for more.

To My Readers: Change time and place, past to future, city to desert, Earth to the stars. One constant endures: the fiery passion of a man and a woman. Lose yourself in the fantasy.

SECRETS VOLUME 5 “Hot, hot, hot! Not for the faint-hearted!”—Romantic Times Magazine

“As you make your way through the stories, you will find yourself becoming hotter and hotter.Secrets just keeps getting better and better.”—Affaire de Coeur Magazine

“Secrets 5 is a collage of lucious sensuality. Any woman who reads Secrets is in for an awakening!”—Virginia Henley, New York Times Best Selling Author

BENEATH TWO MOONS BY SANDY FRASER"Sandy Fraser has created a spectacular, intensely sexual sci-fi adventure like no other. You will be swept up by Conor’s powerful animal magnetism and wish with all your heart that you could exchange places with Dr. Eva Kelsey. For those readers that like their men in charge... this is your story.”—Affaire de Coeur review

“Beneath Two Moons by Sandy Fraser is an ‘off planet’ science fiction tale that is sensually and sexually out of this world. I have to be honest and admit that this genre is not my forté, and I had difficulty envisioning everything described except the sex scenes, and these, reader, were definitely off the planet!”—Writers Club Romance GroupINSATIABLE BY CHEVON GAEL"Chevon Gael creates an interesting situation with lots of comedic sexual tension between Marcus and Ashlyn. Things sizzle every time they meet and they do meet in some strange places! Mis Gael packs a lot of sex into this short story. And finds great uses for the executive board room! This story is guaranteed to boost bedroom picture sales across the nation.”—Affaire de Coeur review

“It only takes moments for photographer Marcus Remington to see the sensual side of the young woman who has come to his studio for a glamour photo. Insatiable by Chevon Gael is the tale of an advertising campaign that is hot enough to curl the celluloid in the photographer’s camera.” —Writers Club Romance GroupALIAS SMITH AND JONES BY B. J. MCCALL"B.J. McCall titillates the senses with this sexy, turn-on story about a chance meeting between two people in an airport that turns into a wild night of unforgettable passion! Her graphic descriptions don't leave much to the imagination in this story of lust, power and a dream-come-true ending. Definitely a five-star!”—Affaire de Coeur review

“Alias Smith and Jones by B.J. McCall brings two business executives together that are stranded in an airport during a blizzard. They share a hotel suite for the night and generate enough heat to thaw the North Pole!”—Writers Club Romance GroupSTRICTLY BUSINESS BY SHANNON HOLLIS“Shannon Hollis has created an interesting situation where fantasies do come true. This tale of mutual unadulterated lust set in the modern business world will have your pulse racing as two power brokers try to circumvent their own rules to satisfy their sexual hunger for each other. …This story sizzles in all the right places!”—Affaire de Coeur review

“In her writing debut, Shannon Hollis has gifted us with a provactive blend of policy and passion. Realistic, tantalizing and a great read — look for more from this talented new author!”—Bonnie Hamre, author